


On the Rocks

by whatkindoftea (haeli)



Category: DBSK|Tohoshinki|TVXQ
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-02-11
Packaged: 2017-12-29 18:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1008378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haeli/pseuds/whatkindoftea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A doctor and a famous idol meet on the night of Valentine’s Day at a bar while drinking away their loneliness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Rocks

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2013 Homin Fic Exchange

“People who lead a lonely existence always have something on their minds that they are eager to talk about.” - Anton Chekov

 

\---

 

The lounge is subdued in a way only high end establishments are - dim lighting, clean lines, rich surfaces, and the quiet murmur of polite conversation weaving through the space.  But Yunho isn’t here for the overly polished setting.  Three hours ago, he had been performing quadruple bypass surgery - his third of the eighteen-hour shift. The procedure was entirely unremarkable, which means it went well. Now, tired and drawn from work, he’s here to unwind.

 

It’s quarter past ten on Valentine’s night and even though Yunho has spent his entire day surrounded by hearts - pillows, balloons, and sinewy beating ones - he can’t remember the last time he felt this dispirited about a holiday.

 

After his shift, Yunho had washed up, changed out of his scrubs into a tailored gray suit, and made his way to the quiet bar. Tucked away from the tree-lined streets of Apgujeong, it’s exclusive and secret, the cost of a drink more than a full meal in some of the restaurants on the same road.  But it’s worth the price for Yunho, who spends too much time shuttling between two of Seoul’s major hospitals, with nurses and lawyers and families of patients all clamoring for his attention.  He wanted peace but not isolation, which is why he came here rather than returning to his apartment.   Since last April, solitude and loneliness have been the only things waiting for him there.

 

The thin line of lighter skin on his left fourth finger has faded away, but the echoing of the now half-empty space and the lawyer fees still serve as constant reminders.  So he came here - to be near people without the obligation to speak to them or break open their chest cavities.

 

And, of course, to drink.

 

Yunho has just finished his first scotch, the warming effects of the alcohol spreading through his chest and relaxing him, easing the tense line of his jaw and melting the beginnings of a headache  behind his eyes.  Even the pompous decor seems less absurd now.

 

As he looks to the bartender and orders another, the entrance to the lounge swings open and in a burst of cool air a young man enters, quickly moving to the bar.  It’s nearly half-past ten, and the new patron is wearing sunglasses, thick-rimmed and likely overpriced, and he doesn’t remove them until he’s seated himself on Yunho’s left.

 

Curious, Yunho peers at the man over the rim of his glass.  He’s tall and thin, almost mannequin-like, his body all sharp edges and pale skin. His hair is a dark contrast, warm brown and styled impeccably, the softness of the locks not something accomplished without some manipulation.  He looks like a model or one of those drama stars high school students swoon over.  To be fair, Yunho can see the appeal; the man sitting next to him is undeniably gorgeous.   But there’s an air of subtle hostility about him at odds with his carefully constructed appearance, and the contradiction draws more of Yunho’s attention.

 

Attraction squirms through him as he takes in the large dark eyes, sensual mouth, and the tight black pants hugging devastatingly long legs.  Oh yes, Attractive Guy is definitely his type, everything about him all tall-dark-and-handsome.  Yunho lets himself enjoy looking - it’s been a long time since he’s done it.

 

“Are you going to ask me for an autograph, or are you just going to keep staring like a lech?” The man has turned in his seat, exasperation cutting an undercurrent through his quiet voice.

 

Startled from his mildly inappropriate thoughts, Yunho tries to fight off a blush, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t trying to be rude.”

 

Attractive Guy tilts his head to the side and arches an eyebrow, “Well you weren’t very successful.  So, can I help you with something?  A signature for your girlfriend maybe?”

 

Yunho’s baffled. Why would he want this guy’s autograph? He’d much rather have his number, but instead he says, “Am... Am I supposed to recognize you?”

 

Based on the glances from some of the other people, and the whispering behind hands, he guesses that he should, but Yunho is drawing a complete blank.

 

“You don’t know who I am?” the man replies slowly, genuine surprise lightening the edges of his face, softening the features, and Yunho’s caught by the difference.

 

With brightness, not wanting to offend any more than he already has with all the staring and not-recognizing, Yunho says “No, I don’t.  Sorry to disappoint.”

 

“It’s not a disappointment, not at all,” the other man responds, haughty posture sliding into something less defensive, “I actually find it refreshing.” After ordering a drink, he turns back to Yunho and introduces himself, “I’m Shim Changmin.”

 

“Jung Yunho,” he easily shakes Changmin’s hand and tries not to linger over its softness or the way his graceful fingers look wrapped around his own.

 

“And what is it that you do, Jung Yunho?” Changmin takes a drink from his own glass, a clear liquid - probably gin if the lime is anything to judge by.  Something strong and bracing.

 

“I’m a cardiac surgeon,” he responds and waits for the oh wows that tend to follow.

 

Instead Changmin smirks, “Hmmm, that sounds smart and difficult.  Should I congratulate you?”

 

Yunho can’t help but laugh at the sarcasm, “No, my ego really doesn’t need it.  I have enough people to tell me how brilliant they think I am.”

 

“Then I’ll keep quiet,” it’s a coy response, everything about the other man drawing Yunho in.

 

“And what about you? Why should I be clamoring for your autograph?” He asks, voice teasing, unable to stop himself from flirting back a bit.

 

Changmin just smiles with a little self-deprecation and says, “I’m an idol - I sing and dance and generally dazzle people.”

 

“I’m not the demographic, but I was sure idols had broadcasts for holidays like this - lots of lights and stuff,” Yunho comments.

 

“That’s true, but one of the great things about being me and being older is that I get to pre record everything.  It takes longer, but now I don’t have to be there until midnight, smiling like an idiot and sweating off entire tubes of make up.” Changmin raises one hand in an irritated gesture that Yunho assumes is meant to indicate unpleasantness.

 

Hiding a grin behind a sip of scotch Yunho pries, “No date then?”

 

Changmin huffs a resentful laugh, “I haven’t been on a real date in three years.”

 

Yunho finds that hard to believe, everything about Changmin meant to tempt, to keep people looking. The other man must see his skepticism, and continues, “All the kids to want to be idols these days.  Because we’re desirable.  We can sing and dance, we get to wear all of the best clothes and travel the world, and all our close friends are other idols.”

 

“Sounds glamorous.”

 

“It can be.  But what these kids don’t understand is the price it comes at.”

 

“And what price is that?” Yunho’s gaze flickers to the other patrons and finds some are still staring.

 

“Pretty much everything else,” sighs Changmin.  “You get to wear the clothes, perform the concerts, be on varieties, but that’s it.  That’s it.  I don’t see my friends from school. Ever. The only people I see, who understand my life, are other idols,” Changmin swirls his glass, and the ice clinks into the brief pause, “And I don’t get to have relationships.  I get to be an idol. People want me because they think they can have me.  That’s what makes me desirable - being available.  If the fans realize I won’t fall in love with them, then they stop loving me and everything goes away.”

 

“It sounds lonely,” Yunho says into the following hush.

 

“It is lonely,” Changmin muses, “even if I’m never actually alone.”  With a twist of his mouth he says, “I’m not sure why I’m telling you this.”

 

Yunho shrugs and feels their knees bump under the bar and tries not to grin, “I’m a doctor, people tell me things.”

 

Answering with a soft smile of his own, Changmin asks, “Why are you here then? Don’t you have some equally impressive lawyer wife to take to dinner tonight? Even if it is,” he glances at the watch face around his wrist, “nearly eleven?”

 

“She was a television producer actually,” Yunho responds trying and failing to keep the flatness from his voice, “and she’s out to dinner with someone else at the moment.  New boyfriend, I think.”

 

“I’m sorry,” says Changmin, which is all that can be said really.

 

“It’s almost alright,” Yunho answers, glancing down at his ring-less left hand out of habit.

 

Changmin raises his glass in a silent toast to their shared loneliness before downing the rest of his gin and tonic and ordering another.

 

After a few beats of quiet, Changmin turns back to Yunho.  “I have a joke for you,” he says, “would you like to hear it?”

 

Unable to help himself Yunho nods.

 

“What’s the difference between God and a cardiac surgeon?”

 

Shaking his head Yunho responds, “I have no idea.”

 

“God doesn’t think he’s a cardiac surgeon,” and he says the punch line with a secretive smile as he leans in even closer to Yunho’s space, close enough that Yunho catches the sharp scent of hairspray and something else that’s fresh like rain.  “Is that true? Do all you surgeons think you’re God?”

 

Yunho laughs, and even though he really shouldn’t, leans in to squeeze Changmin’s shoulder.  It’s a little too intimate and friendly and Yunho’s hand tingles afterwards.  “No, I had a nurse thoroughly disillusion me of that notion.  I was being entitled and spoiled and she wasn’t going to put up with it.”

 

Changmin’s cheeks have a fresh redness to them and he still hasn’t moved back away from Yunho.

 

“Well do you?”

 

“Think I’m God?” Yunho responds, tapping his fingers on the counter, “Not at all, but holding a beating heart in your hand and knowing that you’re saving a person’s life, bringing them back from the edge? It can be overwhelming.  Sometimes it’s easier just to act like a hot shot who’s not affected.  It makes it easier to go into work and cut people open.

 

“And I’m pretty sure God’s success rate would be a bit higher than mine, but only a bit,” he jokes with a wink.

 

Changmin laughs at that, voice rising above the buzzing in the lounge, one eye scrunching into the shape of a crescent moon.  Yunho thinks it’s perfect.

 

Their conversation lulls into a comfortable silence, each contemplating the other and leisurely sipping on their drinks.   Later, Yunho will blame his forwardness on the alcohol heating his veins even though he knows three drinks is not enough to make him so brazen, but sitting so close to Changmin for the past hour and sharing secrets like old friends has added to the feelings of inebriation.

 

“So you have no plans for Valentine’s Day then?  You were just going to be lonely in a bar for the rest of the night?”

 

“Don’t make it sound so pathetic,” Changmin pretends to be wounded and pouts, the pursed lips sending a fresh kick of arousal through Yunho, “I was planning on getting spectacularly drunk in a bar for the rest of the night.”

 

Then there’s a knees-weak smirk instead of the pout, and Changmin’s hand is on Yunho’s forearm, finger tips trailing slowly down the inside.  “And maybe looking for someone to go home with.”

 

Lust curls through Yunho like a slow smoke at Changmin’s invitation, and he can’t think of anything he would rather do than take the idol back to his apartment and spend the rest of the night mapping out his lithe figure with hands and tongue.

 

But he tries not to get ahead of himself, “How about food first?”

 

“Goshen?”

 

“My favorite.”

 

Changmin moves to grab his sunglasses, their need no longer a mystery to Yunho and wraps a dark scarf around the bottom half of his face.  He look sleek and dangerous with dark pants, stylized blazer and willowy physique.  Yunho thinks he’d let Changmin break his heart all over again if the man wanted to.

 

“I’d offer to drive, but...” Yunho raises an apologetic shoulder, gesturing at the empty tumbler on the bar top as he finishes pulling on his own walking coat.

 

“It’s fine,” and Changmin looks a little flushed himself, but Yunho hopes it’s not only the alcohol.

 

As they move towards the exit, Changmin runs a hand across Yunho’s shoulders, and nervous whispers, “Do you have something to hide your face with?”

 

“It’s fine,” Yunho soothes, hand resting at the small of Changmin’s back as he leads the idol towards the door, “We’re not on some street in Hongdae, and the restaurant is just around the corner.” After a moment of consideration Changmin nods and goes with him out onto the quiet street that is devoid of screaming fangirls.

 

The two of them are slowly making their way, discussing their favorite foods, when from across the road, a group foreigners exists a late-night cafe, women brightly chatting with each other in a language Yunho doesn’t understand, but Changmin freezes next to him.

 

“What is it?” Yunho asks quietly, stopping beside the other man.

 

“Haven’t you heard of the ‘Hallyu Wave’?” Changmin looks a little bit panicked, eyes sliding around the street, looking for something.

 

“Um, maybe?”

 

“Well, you’re looking at it’s face,” Changmin mutters before grabbing Yunho by the upper arm and hauling him towards a small side street just ahead of them.

 

“Changmin, what are you-” Yunho protests before Changmin shushes him, pushing him into the neat alleyway.

 

Pulling his scarf beneath his chin, Changmin whispers, “Just be quiet!” He presses Yunho up against the cement brick wall, crowding them into the shadows, and trains his eyes on the entry way, head tilted and listening for the sound of incoming fans.

 

But the young women across the street don’t pursue them, and their words fade away and blend into the rest of the ambient noise of the street.

 

As the momentary anxiety runs out of Changmin, he laughs, hushed and embarrassed.

 

“Is that typical for you?” Yunho asks, amused.

 

“No,” Changmin replies, long fringe covering one eye, “they normally find me and chase me for a few blocks.

 

Yunho finds the way Changmin laughs thoroughly distracting.  He does it with his entire body, limbs quacking, eyes mismatched and teeth showing.  As Changmin leans forward to steady himself after he quiets, Yunho can’t stop himself from moving into it and kissing the singer on the corner of his mouth.

 

Changmin gives a startled little gasp, eyes wide with surprise before grabbing the lapels of Yunho’s dark coat and pulling him back in for a second, third, and fourth.

 

The attraction that has been simmering just beneath the surface of Yunho’s skin melts through him, and he pushes against Changmin as their mouths slide and part against each other.  It’s rushed and greedy, the air between them thick as Yunho pulls Changmin forward, hands in the idol’s back pockets.  Changmin grinds slowly against him, wanting friction and Yunho shudders into the kiss and hauls the other man even closer, bodies touching from shoulders to knees.

 

“Oh, you’re delicious,” Changmin moans with a wicked glint in his eye as he moves to press a slow burning kiss to Yunho’s jaw, “I could drown in you.”

 

Yunho can taste the juniper on Changmin’s breath, the gin sweet on his tongue and thinks of how much he wants to do just that, lose himself in the other man.

 

“I want you to take me to your place,” Changmin says, voice pitched low, “I want you to hold me down, do all the things I’ve wanted for years but never got.  I want you to drive me wild.”

 

Yunho groans at the thought, and kisses Changmin again. It’s more measured but no less intense, Yunho promising everything and then more as he grips at Changmin, pulling quiet noises from the idol with his tongue.

 

“But first,” Changmin murmurs against Yunho’s mouth, “you are going to buy me dinner.”

 

“It’s Valentines Day,” Yunho replies with a soft smile, “of course I’ll buy you dinner.”

 


End file.
